Couverture médiatique

By Wall Street Journal: Xiaoqing Pi à la juillet 24, 2013

Deal With Dalian Wanda Follows Pact With South Korean Partner

BEIJING—IMAX Corp. IMX.T -0.15%is joining with China's largest cinema chain to build as many as 120 new theaters in the country, dwarfing a deal that the company announced with a Korean partner last week.

Under the agreement, IMAX will add between 40 and 120 theaters. At most, it would bring to 381 the number of IMAX theaters open or planned in China, with Wanda Cinema Line Corp. running up to 210 of them.

Wanda will build 40 new theaters by 2017 and the rest by 2020, said Wanda General Manager Jerry Ye.

There were 126 IMAX theaters in operation in China at the end of June. Greater China accounted for 15% of IMAX's first-half revenue.

The Canada-based company said last week that it would add 30 IMAX screens in China and five in South Korea with Korean partner CJ CGV Co. 079160.SE +0.20%

If Wanda builds all 120 theaters, IMAX would generate as much revenue from China as the U.S., said IMAX Chief Executive Richard Gelfond.

By The Wall Street Journal: Jeyup S. Kwaak à la juillet 15, 2013

SEOUL—IMAX Corp. and its South Korean partner plan to add 30 IMAX movie screens in China and five in South Korea.

The expansion, to be announced in coming days, is aimed at capitalizing on rising entertainment spending by the Chinese middle class and demand for the immersive high-resolution technology in Korea, IMAX Chief Executive Richard Gelfond said.

The project is a joint venture with the overseas business arm of South Korea's largest theater chain, CJ CGV Co.

The deal will bring the number of IMAX screens scheduled for construction in China to 140 and in South Korea to 10. There were 118 IMAX screens in operation in China and 12 in South Korea at the end of March.

"What IMAX is doing is following the audience around the world," Mr. Gelfond said.

China is the world's second-largest movie market by box-office revenue, behind the U.S., and the number of screens in China is expected to eclipse that of North America by 2020, according to Ernst & Young.

By Boston Globe: Ty Burr à la juillet 11, 2013

It’s an image as mythic as it is commercial: a metal giant so immense you have to stretch your brain to take it all in, snorting and stomping and outfitted with ingenious weaponry, and sequestered deep inside — unimaginably tiny amid the clanging machinery — the humans who control it with their minds.

As a metaphor for the state of modern Hollywood filmmaking, that’s hard to beat.

As the springboard for a muscular pop vision, it’s pretty impressive, too. “Pacific Rim” is, hands down, the blockbuster event of the summer — a titanic sci-fi action fantasy that has been invested, against all expectations, with a heart, a brain, and something approximating a soul.